


No Rest for the Wicked

by specifiedtrash



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Gen, mondo is a ghost, who you gonna call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 18:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3299072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specifiedtrash/pseuds/specifiedtrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mondo regains a friend he thought he’d lost, and loses a friend he thought he’d regained. Spoilers for DR1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Rest for the Wicked

Waking up wasn’t at all what Mondo had expected. He thought he’d just… Stop. Sure, there was always the hope that he’d get an afterlife, maybe he’d see Daiya and Chuck. But he’d never actually believed any of it. Not really. Even if there was a place, there wasn’t one for someone like him.

It was surreal. One minute he’d been spinning and there was this sharp, electric smell he could feel in his teeth. And pain. More pain than he’d felt in his entire life. When it felt like his body was about to fall apart, he felt a burning bright light and everything just… Stopped. He grimaced and sheltered his eyes with a hand. Wait, his hand? It wasn’t tied to the bike? All the pain and spinning had slowly dissolved away, and by the time he’d blinked away the light, he realized he was standing on his own feet. No bike. No ties.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. Beside him, the bike rattled in it’s cage and he watched in disgust. One thing seemed wrong, though. Where was his body? The sound of a machine caught his attention before the thought had completed itself.

If he could, he would’ve been sick. There was some kind of strange noise behind him. Like someone yelling underwater. He turned, and saw Ishimaru buckled over and screaming his lungs out. Mondo ran over to him. To say he was okay, that it wasn’t so bad, that he didn’t have to worry or cry or scream like that. But his hands passed right through his Kyoudai’s shoulders. He should’ve known that’s what would’ve happened.

"Hey, listen to me!" He shouted at Ishimaru, begging him to hear it. "I’m alright, okay?! Stop screamin’ like that!"

"He can’t hear ya." Mondo stiffened at the voice. Familiar, but he’d never thought he’d hear it again. He spun around with raw hate in his eyes and found himself face-to-face with Leon Kuwata. As soon as he saw Mondo’s face, he stepped back and held up his hands, as if to show he meant no harm. As if he could possibly inflict any.

"Kuwata!" Mondo said the name like an accusation, through teeth clenched so tight it hurt his jaw. Leon took a few steps back and shook his head frantically.

"Hey, calm down! I’m not gonna do anythin’ to ya!"

"Damn straight ya won’t!" Mondo grabbed at the front of Leon’s shirt. The only solace right now was that he didn’t phase through it.

"Wait, hold on a second! Let me explain!"

"I don’t wanna hear it! Ya fuckin’ stabbed Maizono! Ya killed a woman! Ya fuckin’ coward! You’re scum! I’m gonna cave your damn skull in!" He pulled back a fist and Leon cringed in anticipation. But it didn’t come. Slowly, he opened one eye. Mondo was still there, still holding his collar and ready to punch him right in the face. It almost made him flinch again, but there, just for a second, his furious expression faultered. Behind him, Ishimaru was still screaming.

Slowly, he let go, and dropped his shoulders. Tears stung at his face but he kept them from falling and made himself keep glaring at Leon. Leon didn’t even fix his shirt, just looked off at the floor beside him.

"Do ya hate me?" He couldn’t even look at Mondo when he’d asked it. Fucking coward. Memories were sinking back into his mind, gradually, like feathers falling back into place. He remembered laughing with this idiot, getting their hands on some alcohol at his birthday. Headlocks and laughing and helping eachother dodge detention. Snowball fights and races that he couldn’t win, fist-fights he never lost. But all in good fun. This was one of his best friends in the world. A total moron, but still his friend. Did he hate Leon? In spite of everything…

"Yes," he narrowed his stinging eyes and crossed his arms. Leon’s attention was sharply pulled back to look at Mondo. Everything about him looked like he’d just been stabbed. The way Maizono must’ve looked, when she had a broken wrist and huddled on the floor, desperately trying to get away from this murderer.

"You… You weren’t there! Ya can’t say I’m all that bad!" Leon was shaking now, and Mondo could see tears in his eyes. Weak. Weak, weak, weak, weak- "When you did no better!" Mondo froze. If he had blood left, it would’ve gone cold.

"The fuck did you just say to me?" His voice was low. Midway between a growl and a whisper. How. DARE. He. He clenched his fists so tightly it hurt his palms, face skewed in an involuntary snarl.

"I saw you! I was right there, I saw what ya did to Fujisaki! You’re no better than I am!" Before he’d gotten all the words out, Mondo was holding his collar again and practically growling in Leon’s face. But he didn’t. Shut. Up.

"Don’t put me on your level! Fujisaki was-"

"What? A dude? He could defend himself? Is that what you mean? Maizono might’ve been a chick, but at least she had a chance to fight back!" The words hit him like a blast of cold water. Why wouldn’t Leon stop talking?!

"Shut up! You don’t know shit! Ya didn’t have to go after her! You coulda walked away at any time!" Mondo was seeing red. Disgusting red hair that he’d tried to clean all traces from Naegi’s room. Leon seemed about ready to spit another double-sided sword of an argument, but instead, looked past Mondo and visibly dropped his anger. All that was left on his face was hurt. Mondo turned to see what he was looking at, and drooped as well to see Ishimaru being helped away. Still facing away from Leon, Mondo managed to drag words from his throat. "When ya mentioned Fujisaki a minute ago. You used past-tense. Can we…?"

"No. Maizono and Fujisaki got to keep goin’." Mondo spun back to give Leon a rare glance of weakness and alarm. Kept going? Could he follow?

"What do ya mean?"

"I wanted to… Apologize, or somethin’. But it’s no good. It’s just been me for… Fuck, I don’t even know how long anymore. I don’t sleep or eat or anything. When the biological clock stops, keepin’ time is hard. Point is- you’re the only one that’s stuck around." Leon seemed so distant about it. Almost like he didn’t believe it was real, himself. Like he expected Mondo to vanish any second and leave him alone to rot with his guilt. Mondo couldn’t swallow the lump in his throat. Everyone else had moved on. Everyone but him, and this scum.

"Where’d they go?! Can’t we just go after them?!" His own voice shook and he hated himself for it. Weak. Leon just shook his mane of red hair.

"I’ve tried. I can’t. I guess… My name’s just not on the list, y’know?" He forced an ersatz grin and gave a tight shrug. Mondo couldn’t get mad at him for the joke. He couldn’t call him a dumbass or smack the back of his head. Everything just felt numb. He was stuck here, because in the end, he was no better than Leon. "If there’s anythin’ we can be happy about…" Mondo glared daggers at him. What on Earth was there to be happy about anymore? "… I mean… I don’t have to be alone anymore. I think I’d rather talk to someone that hates my guts than someone that can’t hear me." Mondo hesitated for a beat. Leon had been completely alone this whole time. His last memories were of everyone standing around the courtroom looking at him with disgust and hatred. Nobody even tried to get to him when the pitching machine started up. Hell, Mondo oculd have torn that fence in half, if he’d wanted to. He could have stopped the pitching machine any time. If he’d wanted to. But he’d just stood there and watched and listened to Leon screaming, begging for help, for his life, for mercy- for anything.

"Kuwata… I don’t hate ya." Leon lit up with genuine surprise.

"Ya don’t?"

"Nah."

"Thanks, Oowada. I really… Thanks."

"Don’t get sappy on me. C’mon, I wanna make sure Ishimaru is alright." Without waiting for Leon’s response, he set off after the others, and looked for Ishimaru. The look on his face could’ve killed Mondo a second time.

-

Leon was more than happy just to have someone to talk to again, even if Mondo wasn’t much conversation. There wasn’t anything to do during nighttime, everyone was in their rooms sleeping and the two killers couldn’t snack or play a sport or game without just phasing through everything the touched. Leon explained that he’d been able to walk through locked doors, that he could finally leave the school, but just chose not to. This is where his life was, now. Now that he remembered everything, he didn’t want to leave. Mondo had to agree. This is where his friends were. The Crazy Diamonds were gone- even when he was dead, there was no place for him outside these walls. This is where Ishimaru was. Mondo had grilled him about walking through locked doors, and Leon had grinned and admitted he was only human.

The first night, both boys stayed with Ishimaru. Hanging out just like old times, before they forgot everything. The mood was considerably darker, but at least they had each other again. Their friends. If only Ishimaru could know he wasn’t alone.

Mondo couldn’t get rid of Leon. Just like old times. His attention-craving best friend that would make a mess on the carpet if they ignored him for long. In a way… He’d missed it. It wasn’t in him to forgive what Leon had done, but given the circumstances, he pretended it didn’t happen. For now. The kid had been pelted to death by fungoes while all his friends just watched, and even that wasn’t the end of his guilt and self-loathing. Mondo really wasn’t any better.

Not that he minded having Leon around, as much as he’d hate to admit to it. There wasn’t much to do otherwise, and Leon knew more about his current ‘condition’ than Mondo. It was hard, but they were doing alright. Adapting, like Celes had kept saying. Most of the time they both hovered around Ishimaru, who wasn’t particularly interesting to watch, in his nearly catatonic state.

But things had shaken up when Ishimaru had seen the program emulate Mondo and lost it. He’d ran right through Leon, screaming about his new name. Leon just held his chest, where Ishimaru had ran through him, and grimaced. No one had gotten like that over him. If Mondo really wasn’t any better… Why wasn’t anyone mourning Leon?

It was embarassing to see Ishimaru like this. Mondo kept pointlessly telling him to get over it, to snap out of it. To eat or sleep or take care of himself. He was just letting himself fall apart like an animal that wanted to die.

When he’d gotten a note, both Leon and Mondo had traded alarmed glances. Both had told him not to go, but it was no use. Both followed him and tried to warn him or defend him or something. They couldn’t lose him. If he died a victim, they’d never see him again.

But he did. He’d gasped and collapsed to the ground, both Leon and Mondo frantic to stop the bleeding or do anything to help. Mondo knelt at his Kyoudai’s head and finally let the tears leave his eyes. No. Not Ishimaru. Anyone but Ishimaru. Leon stood over them both, wanting to help, but simply not able to.

Weakly, Ishimaru looked up and Mondo could swear he’d looked him in the eye. With the last reserve of his strength, he’d reached forward, half-smiled.

"K… Kyou…d…dai…"

Mondo took a sharp breath. Had he really..? But before he could ask, Ishimaru was gone. Just like Leon had said. He didn’t stay. There was nothing but a corpse, and the part of him that made him Ishimaru was gone. Forever.

Leon and Mondo just had to sit with their guilt and hope that maybe, eventually, they’d have served enough time to get to join him.


End file.
